Page 61 of Mafia and Scars

But it’s enough.

More gunfire erupts from multiple directions. Pops and bangs. I distinguish the sounds now.

Sharp sniper cracks.

Throaty shotgun roars.

Submachine gun buzz.

It’s orchestrated chaos.

And we don’t take a breath until we’ve eliminated them all.

“All clear?” Grigory finally barks into his phone.

“Perimeter clear.”

“Left wing clear.”

“Right wing clear.”

One by one, our men check in until we know the whole damn house is finally secure.

Grigory and I clamber to our feet and stand over the bodies of the men who tried to take us out. Grigory spits on the nearest corpse. “Get cleanup started,” he orders. “I want to know who tried to kill us.”

I nod and turn to leave. Even after all this chaos, everyone falls back into their roles like a well-oiled machine.

“Two of ours are dead,” Matvey tells me with a shake of his head as we pass in the hall.

“Get their names. I’ll inform their families.”

We slide past one another, and I take a sharp turn toward the safe room. I told Matvey to get Avelina, the kids, Babulya, and the other female staff in there as soon as the power went out. The eye scanner makes me wince before I punch in the code. The heavy door slides open.

Avelina jumps to her feet, Leon still tucked against her chest. Sofia sits at the small table, playing with a pack of cards.

“You guys can come out,” I say.

“Is the game over?” Sofia asks. “Baba said we’re playing hide and seek.” It hasn’t take long for the children to start calling my grandmotherBabajust like I do.

I give Babulya a nod of gratitude. But it’s the silent question in Avelina’s wide, worried eyes that really matters.

I run a hand through my hair, still mussed from the goggles. “Yeah, it is.”

Relief softens Avelina’s face, a shaky breath leaving her. Sofia yawns, and Leon’s sleepy form in his mom’s arms tells me the kids are beyond exhausted.

“C’mon, Sofia. Bedtime,” Avelina says with a tremble in her voice as everyone starts to get up.

“Let’s use the back stairs tonight. It’s faster, and you won’t have to weave between…uh, there’s a lot of stuff the guys knocked over in the dark.”

Avelina understands that I mean broken windows and dead bodies, and she nods without protest and follows me, Sofia trailing beside her.

We climb the stairs in silence. Even as she nudges Sofia into the spare room beside mine, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. Her gaze flicks restlessly around the room, her shoulders still tight with fear.

Sofia heads into the adjoining bathroom, calling, “That was fun!” before vanishing fromsight.

“Avelina.”

She pauses and looks up at me. I meet her gaze because I need to read her. She’s shaken and scared—it’s written all over her face.